One Shot One Kill No More in the Army

[hkhoosier]

One Shot, One Kill

March 27, 2008 - Army News Service|by Mike A. Glasch

FORT JACKSON, S.C. - "One shot, one kill" may be the motto of the Army sniper, but for Soldiers qualifying in Basic Rifle Marksmanship, the traditional one shot per target on the range could soon come to an end.

The Basic Combat Training Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Brigade, are testing a new BRM qualification, which combines elements they will experience on the battlefield -- movement, concealment, presence of civilians and using multiple rounds on an enemy.

"This is to give Soldiers a qualification standard that is more combat focused," said Capt. Sammie Burkes, Company C commander. "It requires them to use those marksmanship skills they will encounter in a modern-day battlefield environment."

L-shaped barriers have been placed in front of the berms on the firing ranges. At the start of the "Combat Shoot," Soldiers are given four 10-round magazines. As they walk down the range on a simulated patrol, targets pop up and a loudspeaker blares the sound of shots being fired at them. Soldiers are required to engage multiple targets at different distances. The targets require one to three hits before they will go down.

"Lessons learned from Afghanistan and Iraq show that you may have to engage that target more than once before it goes down," Burkes said. "This will teach the Soldiers that lesson, versus the regular BRM where with one hit, a target goes down."

After the first round of targets, Soldiers rush to the barrier and change magazines, and repeat the scenario three times from behind the barrier -- standing, kneeling and prone positions.

Company C drill sergeant Staff Sgt. Randall Weeks said this gives Soldiers more realistic training.

"They are actually moving, needing to find cover and reloading just like they will have to do in Iraq," he said. "The old BRM didn't teach them that. They are moving more. Having to run up to cover gets their heart beating. Once your heartbeat increases it actually moves your weapon and affects your aim. You have to learn how to manage it."

During the last three scenarios a new twist is added. A target painted white appears representing a civilian. If a Soldier shoots the civilian, he or she is automatically disqualified.

"It's teaching the Soldiers to have a little bit of target discrimination," Burkes said.

"We've placed the civilian 'target' in the middle of the others," said Weeks. "The Soldiers have to look beyond it and aim in front and behind."

Another twist is dummy rounds loaded in the Soldier's magazine. They can be in one, two three or all four of the magazines. The dummy rounds are designed to simulate a weapons jam, requiring Soldiers to perform SPORTS (slap, pull, observe, release, tap, shoot) to their weapon in the middle of their BRM qualification.

Burkes said he hopes the "Combat Shoot" will eventually replace the current BRM qualification.

"We would like to see this become the qualification standard versus the way we qualify now," he said. "This is teaching Soldiers to have a little bit of target discrimination, to change magazines quickly, and that they may have to fire more than one round to put an enemy down. It keeps them more focused."

Weeks agreed with his commander's assessment. He said that training to the "Combat Shoot" standards makes his current group of Soldiers 100-percent better at BRM than previous cycles.

"We started teaching the techniques needed from day one of BRM. We had 100 percent of the company qualify (on the standard BRM) on the second day. In the past it would take all three days to get everybody qualified. That gives us a whole extra day of training," he said. "When they are in Iraq, they're not just going to be lying in a prone position or in a foxhole. They are actually going to have to learn how to get behind a car, or a wall and engage the enemy from around and over a cover."

[ryanmercer]

Probably best this way... long range combat just isn't much of an issue anymore. I've had a dozen or so friends in the sandbox in the past few years and not a one of them has told me of any instance where they had to fire their gun, where they weren't within spitting distance of whoever was shooting.

[HiRoller]

Ahhhhhh....my alma mater......good ole' Fort Jackson. I still have exhausting dreams of Tank Hill.

[SilentWarrior1]

"Victory Starts Here"

C Co. 2-28 here.

Yeah, I can tell you from experience that any time we were engaged, it was always within 50 yds or less. You could see the faces (or heads covered with Shemaghs) of people that were firing at you. This training is good, but they still need to teach the basics. One rule in combat that is constant is "Only Hits Count".

[techres]

A guy at one of the IPSC shoots was having trouble explaining to his CO that they needed to be able to carry more ammo as flight crew since one mag is nothing in real terms. To prove the point he brought the CO to a meet and within minutes the CO go the point and approved extra mags and a few shotguns to boot. (Helo flight crews as I remember).

Seems to me someone in the training department went to a 3 gun event and got the point too.

[HiRoller]

I don't see how you could ever have too much BRM !!! My "Cold War" era service had barely enough BRM for people who had no firearms experience prior to Military. I remember one the range officers would constantly yell out " All you gang bangers from Chicago and New York can run like hell in the opposite direction of the fight, which is good because.....you can't hit a barn from 10 yards with one of my rifles" I would imagine todays urban battle front requires highly modified technique's expanded from the basics.
A-4-1-1 Tank Hill